Self-powered wireless communication networks rely on ultra-low power wireless devices that can harvest energy from ambient sources and rely on efficient device-to-device discovery for facilitating the exchange of data and information. General throughput enhancement (e.g., maximization) techniques, including neighbor discovery, are constrained by the available power that each device can consume for communicating within the network. For example, these self-powered wireless communication networks rely on ultra-low power wireless devices that continuously harvest energy from ambient sources or have a specific energy budget associated with their operation. In order to ensure long term or near perpetual operation, the ultra-low power wireless devices operate at a low duty cycle that requires them to enter a sleep state to conserve energy. The wireless devices can be attached to any object such as home devices, medical devices and objects in a transportation chain.
Low-powered, energy-harvesting and/or energy constrained communication networks can facilitate the Internet of Things (IoT) by providing a network infrastructure that enables the networked objects to exchange data by discovering neighboring devices and, as a result, provide for the monitoring and tracking of such objects for extended periods of time. Prior communication techniques (e.g., Wi-Fi or LTE), however, are inefficient for ultra-low power energy-harvesting wireless devices. For example, wireless protocols such as Wi-Fi allocate larger energy budgets for their operation and require synchronized device-to-device discovery protocols.